Thursday, May 29, 2014

Blur by Steven James

Steven James turns his talents toward Young Adult novels with Blur the first of a trilogy.

This author is the master thriller. While Blur took a while to get going, I couldn't put this thing down.

Daniel Byers is the star quarterback of his school with a special gift. When a shy freshman drowns, the school turns out for her funeral. Daniel feels awkward at first and, with a growing headache, "sees" the girl, Emily, reach out from the casket and grab his arm. There's more to the drowning, maybe she was murdered.

James takes the reader though a fantastic journey learning about Daniel, his friends and the new girl, Stacy. He's terrific at forming characters while driving the plot forward (after the first slow parts of course).

As Daniel continues to have these visions, we are pulled along the who-dun-it trail and EVERYONE is a suspect. Before James delivers the big reveal, you will have accused everyone and everyone COULD have plausibly been the killer - even Daniel himself.

There are twists common in thrillers like this and I can't wait to continue this series.